


Her Beauty and the Moonlight Overthrew Ya

by WatercolourSkies



Category: Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Declarations Of Love, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Post-Canon, Songfic, Time Travel, Weddings, although I maaay write a fic about that someday, kind of, not their wedding though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27435442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatercolourSkies/pseuds/WatercolourSkies
Summary: H.G is in love with Lenore. That is a fact he was known for a long time now. As time goes on, he finds that more and more of his waking thoughts are of this matter until he is sure they will be completely consumed by beauty, by her behaviour, by the way she looks at him, by everything about her. Unfortunately, that still does leave many variables unconfirmed; most importantly, whether his feelings are reciprocated.It is not until one of their many time travelling adventures that has lasted a little longer than planned that they find themselves at another couple's celebration of love, and H.G wonders how much longer he can keep his love for her contained.All the while,  a song that he has never heard before and yet speaks to him all the same plays.
Relationships: Lenore/H.G Wells
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Her Beauty and the Moonlight Overthrew Ya

H.G wiped a tear from his cheek as he watched his friends and roommates of the past three months join each other in holy matrimony. He hadn’t expected he would cry at their wedding - after all, it wasn’t like marriage changed a relationship in any critical way. A couple would still continue loving, hating or tolerating each other whether they signed a piece of paper or not. Still, it was wonderful to see Mandy and John so happy, and he could understand the romance of vowing to stay together forever with someone. Honestly, it was something he’d found himself hoping he could someday experience himself.

Just then, an elbow collided from his arm, and he had to stop himself from jumping out of his seat. He turned to the smirking ghost sitting next to him.

“Baby,” Lenore snarked, but H.G only smiled in response. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like her eyes were beginning to water.

“I do,” the red-headed woman (Lenore had once commented how she could almost be a direct descendent of Annabel Lee) at the altar responded.

H.G and Lenore had only meant to stay in 2015 for a few weeks, a month at most, but fate had had a different plan (not that he believed in fate; not really). They had met Mandy and John, a young, deeply in love couple who were planning their wedding, early on in their visit, and a combination of the four getting on splendidly, the two ghosts needing a place to stay and Mandy and John looking for some roommates had led them here.

Every now and then, H.G would wonder how Edgar and Annabel were. The similarities between H.G’s old and new friends didn’t stop at appearance, he and Lenore had soon realised. Both pairs contained a sunny, soft-hearted character never seen without a smile on their face, and a quiet, somewhat brooding figure who the former had somewhat brought out of their shell. Of course, he then remembered that, as long as they didn’t have another 1926 situation, they would return home immediately after leaving, so to Edgar and Annabel, no time would have passed at all. He suspected that time would be soon. Their friends’ wedding had played a significant role in them staying, along with the many astonishing aspects of the future they had wanted to explore. Anyway, they could always come back. Who knew, they might one day meet John and Mandy again.

“I now pronounce you man and wife.” H.G pulled himself from his thoughts and focused back on what was going on in front of him, deciding not to later bring up the sniffle he heard from beside him. “You may kiss.”

* * *

John and Mandy looked wonderful during their first dance. The thought of having all eyes on you while you partook in a task that could so easily go wrong and utterly humiliate you made H.G practically shudder, but when the couple danced, they looked at each other like they were the only people in the room, in the world. He wondered if he would ever experience that. Maybe even with -

Interrupting his thoughts for the second time, Lenore grabbed his hand. It was time for the couples to join the dance floor - a part of John and Mandy’s wedding that H.G didn’t fully understand why they had added, but he supposed they were both quite romantic.

“Come on, let’s dance!” Lenore said, pulling H.G to his feet.

“No, no…” H.G said quickly, stumbling over his words. Surely Lenore had misunderstood. “It’s not our turn; we’re… we’re not a couple.”

She laughed her warm, beautiful laugh. “So what? This song is great and I’m tired of waiting.” She tilted her head. “Besides, I’m pretty sure John and Mandy are already convinced we’re together. Why not humour them?”

Nervous but not enough to protest, H.G allowed Lenore to pull him onto the dance floor, receiving a few knowing and congratulatory smiles from others that made a blush spread across H.G’s face. It was only then that he became fully aware of the song playing. It wasn’t one he’d heard before, and Lenore was right, it did sound very nice.

It was also a slow song.

This really was a couple’s dance, wasn’t it?

Without hesitation, Lenore put her arms around H.G’s shoulders, and he tentatively put his to her waist, leaving enough distance between them to keep this chaste. However, that didn’t stop the motion from making him feel like his stomach was flipping over. Surely Lenore must have been aware of his nerves? The thought only made the feeling worsen, and he focused his gaze on the chandelier a little behind Lenore’s head, hoping not looking at her would help.

With Lenore leading them, they began to slowly sway in time with the music, and for a time they were both silent. H.G took the time to pay attention to the music, hearing the story of a baffled king and his song, a broken throne, and the disheartening notion that love is a cold and broken thing and closer to a defeat than a victory.

Lenore must have been listening too, as she said, wrinkling her nose, “This is a pretty weird choice of a song to play at a wedding. I mean, yeah, it’s beautiful, but also hella depressing.”

H.G nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.” He paused. “I… I suppose the lyrics could be about two types of love; the long-lasting, wonderful kind, and the kind that’s grown stale and was never something real - the partners were only trying to convince themselves it was. But, I do agree, it focuses far more on the second type, so it does seem inappropriate for a celebration of love...” He may have had more to say - he wasn’t really sure - but he trailed off as he saw the way Lenore was looking at him, almost wondrously, as he spoke. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “At least, I think so.”

Lenore’s expression shifted into one far more familiar to him: her signature smirk. “I think I’ve been hanging out with authors too much, because that actually kinda made sense.”

He smiled, and managed a small laugh at her what he presumed was a joke. In the time he had known her, Lenore had proven herself to be quite intelligent, and he was sure she had understood his words with ease.

They continued dancing as Lenore looked over to the side, and H.G followed her gaze to the bride and groom in the centre of the room. They really did seem perfect for each other, and H.G felt a pang of something that he was scared to identify but certainly wasn’t happiness for them in his chest. They must have been staring for too long, as the couple were pulled out of their own little universe to look back at them and, after a second, grinned widely to have been proved right in their assumptions about H.G and Lenore’s relationship. Well, or so they thought.

Or so he wished…

As he looked back to Lenore, catching her rolling her eyes with a smile just as the music returned to its repetitive yet powerful chorus.

He couldn’t be sure what gave him the strength to do what he did next; perhaps it was how, in that moment, and every other moment, he was sure that Lenore was more beautiful than the woman on the roof, and not just her beauty but everything about her overthrew him in the best way possible - whenever she glanced his way, whenever she opened her mouth. 

Perhaps it was because some part of him knew that the song was wrong and right in front of him was the opportunity to disprove it. Why couldn’t love be a victory march? Maybe love was music, and two people coming together and knowing they wanted nothing more than to be with each other and make each other happy for the rest of their lives was what unlocked the secret chord.

“Lenore, I… I…” he faltered, needing a moment to push away the overwhelming nerves that arose everytime he considered telling her how he felt, considered that she might feel the same.

Before he could continue, Lenore said simply, “I know.”

“You- you do?”

She laughed. “Uh, yeah. It’s pretty obvious from just the way I’ve seen you look at me that you’re whipped.” H.G felt his face begin to fall. If she’d known this whole time and never mentioned it, did that mean... “I’m not blaming you, though. If I were you, I’d totally be into me, too.”

H.G nodded, breaking eye contact, his thoughts stuck on the unanswered question in his throat, forming a lump there. What if Lenore had never told him she knew how he felt about her so as to spare his feelings? What if she had hoped he would just get over her? What if this ruined the best relationship he had formed with anyone?

“Oh, and H.G?” His eyes returned to her smiling ones. “I love you, too.”

“Oh.” He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “That’s good.” He felt a warm blush rising once more as he returned Lenore’s smile. Embarrassed by his words but unmeasurably happy about Lenore’s, the emotions balanced out into a sort-of light-headed relief, and his heart fluttered as he let her words fully sink in. She loved him. He loved her and she loved him. His worries of his feelings being unrequited had all been unnecessary, because clearly he had been completely wrong. Still, none of that mattered now.

Surely this was how John and Mandy had felt saying their vows at the altar, because H.G couldn’t imagine feeling any happier than he was now.

“That is what you were going to say, right?” He was surprised to hear the slightest bit of doubt in her voice, although he supposed his response had failed to be clear on the subject.

“Of course,” he answered. “Lenore, I have loved you for a long time, and-”

“Okay, okay,” she interrupted. “I get that I’m amazing and this is a dream come true for you or whatever, but no need for any speeches.” Her voice was kind yet firm, and although he wanted to at some point let it be known just to what degree he loved her (Lenore would probably make a comment about it being because he was an author if he told her this), H.G was unable to be disappointed at a time like this. Still, after a moment, she relented, glancing away and then looking back to him as she spoke. He realised that she was blushing too now, which sent a jolt of happiness through him which he couldn’t really explain at the time. “It is kind of a dream come true for me too, though.”

That was all it took for his smile to grow to a grin, as wide and filled with joy as when they had been reunited all those months ago. To him, this felt like another reunion of sorts, or perhaps the coming together he had thought of before. As he watched her sparkling eyes crinkle, he once again found himself overthrown, and he was sure that this was the secret chord the song had spoken of. It was music to his ears.

“Okay,” Lenore said, “are you going to stop with that goofy smile, or do I need to wipe it off for you?”

“Oh, I-” He was about to do as he asked before the implications of her words hit him. His smile, although pleasantly nervous, stayed on his face.

She sighed in a clearly put-on way, as she herself was beaming, and slowly lent in. H.G watched her eyes flutter closed before following her example, closing his eyes just as her lips came into contact with his. His heart somersaulted as he felt her mouth open against his slightly and he pulled her closer to him. The kiss lasted only a few seconds (they were in a room full of people, after all), but they were some of the happiest seconds of H.G’s life.

As the two pulled back, H.G watched Lenore’s eyes, her gaze both gentle and exhilarated, and did not look away. He was instantly reminded of how he had noted how John and Mandy seemed to care little of anyone else when they were so enamoured with each other, and now he was quite sure he had just experienced the same thing. It sounded silly, but slowly, all the little things people did for love were beginning to make sense.

By this point, the song had changed, and the rest of the guests were joining in with the dancing. The song was a bit more fast-paced, but H.G and Lenore did not let go of each other. A part of him hoped they never would.

In that moment, he sincerely hoped that the lyrics of the substantially happier new song were right; H.G certainly did belong with Lenore, and here’s hoping that she felt that she belonged with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first Wellenore fic, but I certainly hope not the last. I utterly adore this ship and think it would be nice if they kissed and said I love you. I've got another few fics about them (and some other Poe Party characters) in the works, and I'm thinking of writing a couple connected to this one.  
> If you enjoyed this fic, please consider leaving kudos and a comment. It honestly makes my day to know people like my writing! Also feel free to talk me on Tumblr (I'm @her-good-professor) if you have thoughts about this fic, Wellenore, Poe Party, suggestions for other fics I could write, or just want to say hi!  
> Have a wonderful day! <3
> 
> Songs referenced are Halleleujah - originally by Leonard Cohen, cover by Jeff Buckley and Ho Hey - The Lumineers.


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